JOHN 5 Says He Had 'Some Of The Best Years' Of His Life Playing With MARILYN MANSON

Andrew McKaysmith of the "Scars And Guitars" podcast recently conducted an interview with former MARILYN MANSON and current ROB ZOMBIE guitarist John 5. You can listen to the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On whether his latest solo album, "Invasion", is his "most definitive statement to date":

John: "What I like to do, is I sit around and I play guitar all the time. I sit around at home; I watch TV and I'll just play things that I really like. And that's exactly what this album is. It's me writing good riffs, riffs that I like, good melody choruses that I like, then a crazy bunch of licks. But it's the most honest album because it's really who I am. I love the country element and I love the rock element and I love the guitar element. It's a very honest album."

On whether "Invasion" is meant to take listeners on a "journey":

John: "We worked on it a lot. Even the intro, 'Invasion', you'll hear the next time you listen to it, you'll hear this wind like in the beginning, like at the very beginning you hear this wind. It's actually not the wind. It's the guitar. I used this Floyd Rose [tremolo]. It's all the way down and I'm coming up on it. It sounds like a low rumble wind and it's so cool, so little surprises like that I really enjoy. I don't like things to get boring. Same thing with the show. The show is just 'Boom! Boom! Boom!' It's a really fun show, so there's not any weird, long jams that you're going to want to walk out on or anything. It's really all crazy, hard-hitting, then we do a country section and we do all sorts of things, like mandolins and banjos. It's really quite a show."

On whether he planned on being a solo artist when he got his start in the music industry:

John: "I just wanted to be a musician. I just love playing guitar, and, I wanted to make instrumental albums but I never thought to tour because I really didn't think anybody would care. But people are coming out in droves. It's incredible and I'm so lucky and I'm so thankful for that. People are just coming out and they're having such a great time. There's a big show, like, we do a bunch of stuff and people really enjoy it. To answer your question, I'm not really sure. I just love playing guitar. [Laughs] I just love playing guitar and I'm so thankful for what I do. It's hard to explain; it's so from the heart and honest, again. I'm so happy to be doing what I'm doing."

On whether he still likes "Voyeurs", the lone 1998 album from Rob Halford's (JUDAS PRIEST) short-lived industrial outfit TWO:

John: "Oh, [I do]. Do you know why? A great song is a great song. It doesn't matter if it's metal, doesn't matter if it's country, doesn't matter if it's rap, a good song is a good song. That's how I look at it. It doesn't matter what it is. I like any kind of music and a good album is a good album and a great song is a great song."

On whether he considers his time in MARILYN MANSON to be a "footnote" or an "important episode" in his career:

John: "An absolute important episode. My name is John 5 and Manson gave me that name. I had some of the best years of my life in that band and learned a lot. I think it was a very, very important time for my career."

JOHN 5 AND THE CREATURES — comprised of John 5, bassist Ian Ross and drummer Logan Miles Nix — recently embarked on the second leg of the "Invasion Tour 2019".